Fleet-footed Father – Parshat Vayeitzei

I am usually careful about how I relate to our forefathers and foremothers(notice that play on words?) There is even a heated discussion about how we relate to their actions and whether or not we are in a position to judge them (won't go into that now). So in choosing this appellation for Yaakov I was careful as well with the language and what it represents.

It became much easier for me when a number of the commentators referred to Yaakov and his trip to Charan and tried to explain a semantically difficult verse. We read in this week's parsha, Parshat Vayeitzei: "And Jacob picked up his legs and went…"1 Don’t the legs usually carry the person and not vice versa? Rashi explains that he was so elated with God's promise in the previous sentence that it was as if he picked up his legs and they were being carried forth by way of his will. Seforno spells it out even more clearly. "When a person goes of his own will to a place of his own choosing, then of course it is as if he is picking up his legs. But if he goes towards a place where there won't even be a place to rest his feet, then clearly his legs will have to carry him…" How we experience our goals and the meaning we ascribe to them has a direct bearing on our emotional well-being and functioning. It can even give us the strength to 'carry our legs'.

If we have a sense of where we are going in life, then our whole existence feels lighter and easier to bear. When we are raising children, even if we are challenged, we have a sense as parents of giving to them and knowing that our investment of time, energy and money, or even our  blood, sweat and tears has more meaning and is easier to bear. This is true in our career and community involvement too. If we are on our way to a meaningful life, even if we are not sure yet of what the meaning is, we already feel a higher sense of purpose and of direction.2

Owning this sense of direction, in turn gives us noetic and emotional strength. With this strength we can face challenges or obstacles that stand in our way and we will do so with courage, fleet of foot and a sense of meaning.

Click here for another logoParsha article on Vayeitzei

Notes

  1. Bereishit 29:1
  2. Viktor Frankl in his book 'Man's Search for Meaning' discusses the centrality of meaning as a healthy and necessary motivating force.

 

 

Have A Great Shabbat!laughing

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